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This doctoral research is conceptualized as the first comprehensive study of incidental music within a specific geographical and temporal framework, as this phenomenon has not been the subject of wider consideration in the local scholarly context up to this date. The aim of this dissertation is to provide an overview of the basic concepts and mechanism of incidental music, from the perspective of specific theatrical performances and a methodology that will be seen as an example of good practice for the further study of incidental music. By outlining the specifics of the research material and establishing an appropriate methodological and theoretical framework, I position this research as an exemplary model for future consideration of incidental music.
In critically reviewing articles on incidental music, particularly those relating to the local context, I have found that the analysis of single case studies within the works of individual composers has dominated discussions to date. However, this research encompasses multiple theatrical performances and personalities who were involved in the realization of the musical idea in different ways, so a more appropriate methodological framework needed to be found.
In this dissertation, I develop a reconstructive-analytical method that, given the inherent nature of incidental music – establishes itself as an essential theoretical framework for understanding incidental music. The focus is on reconstruction as an interpretive practice, complemented by remediation, musicality dispositive (and within it, the concept of intermusicality), history of events/event-ness and classification of didascalie. With the intentional use of the word re-constructor, I wish to emphasize the construction of the narrative on incidental music in line with the consistent reconstruction of the material and its analysis and later critical synthesis of the insights gained. The reconstructive-analytical method consists of two phases – the first, in which the focus is on the material ‘traces’, and the second, which involves the act of interpretation, achieved by establishing a network of relationships between preserved/accessible materials. Fourteen representative examples stood out as eligible for complete reconstruction and latter analysis: Valjevska bolnica [The Valjevo hospital], Garderober [The Dresser], Dozivanje ptica [Calling the Birds], Hamlet, Pogled u nebo [Skylight], San letnje noći [A Midsummer Night’s Dream], Leons i Lena [Leonce and Lena], Orestija [Orestia], Otac [Father], Lagum, Ljubavi Džordža Vašingtona [George Washington’s Loves], Poslednji dani čovečanstva [The Last Days of Mankind], Doktor šuster [Doctor Shoemaker], i Mister dolar [Mr Dollar].
Due to the heterogeneity of the research material and the diversity of musical solutions, the presentation of the results of the application of the reconstructive-analytical method and interpretation is organized in relation to the participants of the music realization process, with the awareness that music characteristics must be examined not only according to the principles of musical poetics, but also in relation to the mechanism of theater.
In this context, I have also made a classification of the roles of the above-mentioned participants, among whom I distinguish 1) composers of original music (who can also be selectors of pre-existing music) 2) selectors of pre-existing music, among whom the most common distinctions are : a) composers, b) directors c) music/sound engineers. A special category is formed by playwrights who propose musical solutions through the dramatic text. In relation to the aforementioned groups, a classification of the possible functions of music in a theatrical performance has been developed, as well as a terminology that takes into account the fact that each theatrical performance is a world in itself.
Through this research conducted within the musicological paradigm, I demonstrate the possibilities of overcoming obstacles and limitations in determining the research material and method of analysis with the aim of developing a functional model for further musicological (as well as theatrological) research and initiating new discussions on incidental music.